The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1887-05-11
rhe NEW orleans COTTON council.

| InS Now RITUALS SOIOOI SOullCll
The great Cotton Council at New Orleans
which, for six years, controlled the hand
ling of cotton at that port, has been dis
organized, and it is expected that next sea
son cotton will be handled there more
cheaply than it has ever been before. The
council, when it was strongest, in
! Guided 10000 men, and was COM
posed of all who had anything
to do with the handling of cotton from fac
tor to drayman. It's original purpose was,
of course, to fix the price for handling cot
ton, and the interests of the factors forced
them to become members of it. The course
pursued in cases where attemps were made to
employ non-union men in any way whatever
was much more effective than that pursued
by labor organizations elsewhere The
factor was not boycotted nor was the non
union man disturbed in any way. The men,
bers Of the council simply refused to handle
envy cotton that had been touched
by non-union men after it had
reached the city, and as it was impossible to
pass a bale of cotton through all the depart
ments of handling without the help of the
council. factor was bound to accept its
services and pay its tariff whether he wanted
to or not If he employed a non-union
drayman to take his cotton to press, he
could not sell it because there was no way
to get it on shipboard. The council wouldn't
have anything to do with it and there was
nobody else to handle it.
1t is remarkable that the council held to-
gether so long. 1t had frequent troubles, of
course, but it was so well organized, dis
ciplined and differed that whenever dissat-
isfaction appeared it was quickly quoted
Last fall the admission of the cotton press
owners into the council occasioned trouble
which finally led TO the breaking of the
council into two OBSERVATION-DISCLOSURES COM
posed almost wholly Of white men and the
other almost wholly of black
men. The two bodies waged war
on each other and the factors suffered Sc
verely. Finally the factors determined that
they would free themselves from the tyran-
ny of the councils and announced that they
would stop the movement of cotton to the
city unless they were permitted to carry ON
their business to suit themselves This
threat had its effect, and gradually the
councils became weaker and weaker, until
few days ago they virtually ceased to exist.
This is only a brief outline of the history
of the council, but it is sufficient to show
that it is difficult, if not impossible, to con-
troll the prices of labor by arbitrary regula-
tions. The prices of all sorts of products,
whether manufactured or taken from the
soil, fuctuate according to the demand for
them, and so, to great extent, must wages
fluctuate in accordance with the demand for
labor The New Orleans council by its
strong organization, managed to maintain
prices for handling cotton several years, but
what was the result! Why, the city lost
nearly half of its cotton trade. Congresses
were built at the interior towns, and
while as much cotton as ever was shipped
from New Orleans, great part of it left
no money there 1t was delivered ready for
| slowing on the ships, and left nothing with
| the council. The cotton handlers would
have made more money had they not
banded together to keep up prices, because
they would not have been idle so large
part of their time
| Now the factors propose to make an effort
| to get the trade back. To that end the
charges for handling cotton will be greatly
reduced next season. The presses will COM
I pete with each other. A few presses will
not do all the work and pay the others i'm
mense sums to prevent competition for
business 1t is doubtful, however, if New
Orleans can ever regain her lost trade. The
| interior towns win meet whatever reduc-
tions her cotton handlers may make She
has only herself to blame, however She
wanted more than the laws of trade allowed
her and trade deserted her. There are other
cities which have suffered to less extent
from the same cause.